Executive Master of Public Administration

Edward S. Ageno School of Business

The executive master of public administration (EMPA) is offered to students interested in a thorough understanding of the processes and practices associated with the management of public sector organizations at the federal, state and urban levels of government. It will introduce you to the relevant set of knowledge and skills required to function effectively in a managerial or executive role within such organizations.

Unlike the traditional MPA which includes a core of common classes and an emphasis program to prepare the student for work in a specific focus area of their choice, the executive MPA assumes that you already have developed competence within a specific functional area. It provides in-depth exposure to the critical areas of executive and managerial focus common to middle and upper level management in all public organizations. This includes: planning; process management; financial management; human resources and labor relations; organizational development and change; law and administrative process; public policy formulation, analysis and implementation; and ethics. The courses are designed to be heavily student-directed online seminars, with numerous short written projects, case studies, online presentations, debates of current practices and policies, and in-depth discussion of issues of good currency in the world of practice.

"We need to promote the concept of management in the courts as a noble calling. Both the art and the science of management are essential ingredients in ensuring the administration of justice."

Sandra Day O'Connor Associate Justice United States Supreme Court

As the work of our nation's local, state, and federal courts becomes more and more complex, court managers and managing judges must keep abreast of modern public administration techniques and practices. In response to the need for high-performing courts, GGU has partnered with the California Administrative Office of the Courts (www.courtinfo.ca.gov/courtadmin/aoc/) to offer an EMPA, with a Judicial Administration (EMPA-JA) concentration beginning in Spring 2009.

GGU agrees with the National Association of Court Managers (www.nacmnet.org) that the judicial branch of government (or the Courts) needs good people, competent, up-to-date, professional, ethical, and committed to public service. High-performing courts get the very best from their judges, administrators, and employees no matter what their particular assignment or job. Hence, the Courts, like the service units and programs of the executive and legislative branches, must also have well-trained people who could carry out public administration functions such as civil service recruitment and selection, policy research and presentation, policy analysis, leadership and organizational analysis, and public-private partnership building, public budgeting and finance, and program evaluation.

The executive MPA is composed of nine 4-semester-hour courses.

GGU's EMPA program has a firm commitment to the academic standards of the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration (NASPAA). GGU has organized curricula leading to professional graduate degrees in public affairs and administration or to relevant baccalaureate and pre-baccalaureate degrees as a NASPAA institutional member since 1976. Our EMPA outcomes are guided by this long-time commitment. Every year, GGU renews its pledge to abide by the NASPAA Member Code of Good Practice: www.naspaa.org/codeofgoodpractice, which emphasizes the university's commitment to quality public affairs education. Additionally, all our public administration faculty members are active members of the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA). Academically, GGU EMPA students who complete their program with a 3.7 overall GPA are inducted to Pi Alpha Alpha, the national public administration honors society affiliated with NASPAA. It is worth noting that GGU's Pi Alpha Alpha chapter standards exceed the national standard of a 3.5 overall GPA eligibility for induction. Three GGU EMPA student capstone projects have been published in the refereed Pi Alpha Alpha Journal. One GGU EMPA student has also received the prestigious Presidential Management Fellowship.

Upon completion of the EMPA, students will be able to:

• Provide the leadership and organizational skills necessary to effectively manage change, quality, productivity, and diversity in public service and non profit organizations;

• Critically but constructively analyze and evaluate public policies and programs within dynamic political contexts at local, national, and international levels of governance;

• Develop collaborative professional relationships and partnerships with consideration for the legal, ethical, and moral constraints that influence the management of public service and non-profit organizations; and

• Synthesize knowledge from the discipline of public administration to form a solid intellectual basis for their professional practice.

Additionally, graduates will be knowledgeable about:

• key thinkers in public policy and administration, including judicial management (EMPA 300 & 308);

• ethical dilemmas in the theory and practice of public administration, including court management (EMPA 308);

• ethical dilemmas in the theory and practice of public management (EMPA 300);

• writing, analytical and research tools required by professional public managers, with an emphasis on methods of identifying problems, developing a research strategy, and creating a formal research proposal (EMPA 301);

• identification of secondary sources essential to public policy and management research, including the use of the Internet as a research tool (EMPA 301);

• appropriate qualitative and quantitative research methodologies (EMPA 301);

• the use of multi-media presentation methods (EMPA 301);

• the dynamic operating environment of the policy analyst, including an examination of the frames of reference that both guide and constrain work in the field (EMPA 302);

• policy analytical paradigms and historical themes in policy literature, and the applications of major tools in policy analysis and program evaluation, including benefit-cost analysis, factor analysis and time series analysis (EMPA 302);

• development and current emphases in organization theory from scientific management to the present (EMPA 303);

• uses of pertinent theories in management and leadership as well as the specific diagnosis and intervention tools and strategies employed in organizational development and change, including experiential skill-building techniques, action research, work design and organizational development methods (EMPA 303 & 310);

• trends toward market-based public service delivery systems, public sector reform, and privatization (EMPA 304);

• how public administrators in many levels of government are being challenged to become more entrepreneurial in their management of public enterprises (EMPA 304);

• contracting with private firms to provide public services, including skills and competency in contract management, marketing, customer service and quality management (EMPA 304);

• financial administration in public and not-for-profit organizations including concepts and activities in public financial management, budgeting, taxation, revenue planning, borrowing, fiscal controls, and the analytical skills needed to direct and control public fiscal activities (EMPA 305);

• the nature of public expenditure controls, the budget cycle (preparation, submission, review, adoption, execution and evaluation), financial management, and legislative and accounting analysis of budgets (EMPA 305);

• trends and challenges in administrative law and judicial administration (EMPA 306 & EMPA 309);

• major constitutional and statutory provisions that impact public service activities, including constitutional law and special provisions of the California Constitution, the Freedom of Information Act, the Federal and California Administrative Procedures Acts, The Brown Act and the Privacy Act (EMPA 306 & 309);

• contemporary issues surrounding employer/employee relations in public sector organizations, including images of public service, work life in organizations, staffing, training and development, merit systems, labor relations, equal employment opportunity and affirmative action and job evaluation (EMPA 307);

• developments in public service employees' collective bargaining legislation, improved employee participation programs, and strategies and techniques used in conflict resolution (EMPA 307); and

• how to conduct a rigorous and empirically driven policy research project which integrates and synthesizes the knowledge and skills acquired from all the courses in the program, including crafting credible policy recommendations and presenting them for peer and faculty review and criticism in the form of a capstone project (EMPA 396).

· EMPA 300 Theory, Ethics and Practice in Public Service
· EMPA 301 Research Methods and Analysis
· EMPA 302 Public Policy Analysis & Program Evaluation
· EMPA 303 Organizational Analysis and Development
· EMPA 304 Public Enterprise Management and Public Sector-Business Relations
· EMPA 305 Budgeting and Financial Management
· EMPA 306 Public Service and the Law
· EMPA 307 Personnel Management and Labor Relations
· EMPA 396 Graduate Research Project in Public Management

· EMPA 308 Judicial History and Governance
· EMPA 309 Trends and Challenges in Judicial Administration
· EMPA 310 Judicial Management and Leadership
· EMPA 301 Research Methods and Analysis
· EMPA 302 Policy Analysis and Program Evaluation
· EMPA 304 Public Enterprise Management and Public Sector Business Relations
· EMPA 305 Budgeting and Financial Management
· EMPA 307 Personnel Management and Labor Relations
· EMPA 396 Graduate Research Project in Public Management